Dragic included Heat on list of teams he wanted to move to…
The Miami Heat are reportedly confident of their chances of signing new point guard Goran Dragic to a max contract this summer after acquiring him on Thursday.
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NBA Trade Deadline 2015 round-up: All the moves that transpired on Thursday.
NBA Trade Deadline 2015 tracker: All the rumors and official moves.
Dragic to Heat confirmed: Point guard gets his wish and leaves Phoenix.
Prior to his trade, Dragic insisted that he no longer trusted the Suns front office and wanted to move given that he wouldn’t be interested in re-signing with the franchise in the summer.
The Slovenian guard provided a list of three teams that he wished to join; the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Heat.
He was eventually granted his wish after securing a move to Miami, with Phoenix receiving multiple players and two future first-round Draft picks in the deal.
However, the Heat have already started looking at ensuring that Dragic re-signs with them in the summer and as reported by Ramona Shelburne, they are confident of doing so.
The Heat would not have done this trade for Dragic without feeling good that he re-signs this summer. Expectation is he’ll get a 5-year max
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 19, 2015
The Heat are now a dangerous prospect in the Eastern Conference, as a starting five of Dragic, Wade, Bosh, Deng and Whiteside is going to cause a lot of problems for their rivals.
In addition, the acquisition of Dragic certainly gives them an upgrade at the point guard position given that they were previously sharing minutes between Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole.
However, the financial aspect of their future dealings could limit them if they are to hand their new guard a max deal. Whiteside will be an unrestricted free agent in 2016, and if he continues to play at his current level, then Miami may struggle to keep hold of him.
Further, they are lacking depth and an injury to any of their starters could be costly both in the playoff race and the playoffs if they make it.
Both the Lakers and Knicks will remain hopeful of persuading Dragic to join them with max contract offers in the summer, but Miami are confident that they can get it done.
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